Indian Army let down by Ordnance Factories, it failed to deliver ammunition on time, says CAG report

About 90 per cent of the ammunition for Indian Army is sourced from the various manufacturing units of the Ordinance Factories Boards (OFB). The OFB failed to deliver ammunition on time leading to a mounting shortfall, the CAG has found.Sudhi Ranjan Sen | Posted by Sanjay Nirala
New Delhi, July 22, 2017 | UPDATED 17:12 IST
A +A -Highlights

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A CAG report revaled that stocks of as many as 61 types of critical ammunition needed by Indian Army will last only 10 days.

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About 90 pc of the ammunition for Indian Army is sourced from Ordinance Factories Boards (OFB).

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The OFBs failed to deliver ammunition on time leading to a mounting shortfall.

But how did the stocks of the Indian Army drop so low and who exactly is responsible?

About 90 per cent of the ammunition for Indian Army is sourced from the various manufacturing units of the Ordinance Factories Boards (OFB). The OFB failed to deliver ammunition on time leading to a mounting shortfall, the CAG has found.

The OFBs are Defence Public Sector Units. They are controlled by the Department of Defence Production under the Ministry of Defence.

Inquires of the CAG reveal performance of OFB have dipped in the last four years - since 2013. Earlier, from 2009-2013 the shortfall in production of different types of ammunition varied from "54 to 73 per cent." Subsequently, from 2013 to December 2016, the CAG observes, "the Army's demand was not met in respect of 64 to 95 per cent types of ammunition."

Closer scrutiny of the CAG revealed even shocking facts. For as many as 11 to 30 types of ammunition considered critical by the Indian Army, the shortfall varied between 50 to 100 per cent. In other words, certain key ammunition weren't produced by the OFBs at all between 2013 and December 2016. In comparison, the CAG says the shortfall in production of the same type of ammunition during 2008 and 2013 stood at 4 to 11 per cent.

"Despite the continued slippages in supply of ammunition to the Army by ordnances factories no mechanism has been introduced by the Board or factories to fix responsibilities," the CAG has observed.

AMMUNITION PRODUCED IS BELOW PAR

Not only did the OFBs fail to produce critical ammunition for the Indian Army, but produced poor quality ammunition, the CAG has observed. As many as 14 types of ammunition and 7 types of spares were returned between 2013-14 and 2016.

Of the ammunition found to be faulty, the majority were 81 mm and 155 mm ammunition, the CAG observes. The 81 mm ammunition that the CAG mentions are mortars which are used respond to ceasefire violations by Pakistan. The 155 mm ammunitions are artillery shells - those used by the Bofor's Field Guns. These two alone accounted for about 59 per cent of ammunition retuned.

POOR QUALITY CONTROL AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

Shockingly, the CAG has found ammunition worth nearly Rs 17000 crore had to rejected by the army because of poor quality. These are "lying rejected at different depots due manufacturing defects," the CAG has said.

Last June, 16 soldiers, including two officers, died when Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) at Pulgaon, Maharashtra went up in flames when defective anti-tank mines stored in the depot went up in flames.

The CAG says even during the audit, a fresh case of faulty 7.62 mm bullets - used by the infantry - came to light. The total value of the bullets is nearly Rs 130 crore, the CAG has observed.